Cronulla: Friday Feb.9

    Today we went by train to Cronulla...a seaside town on the coast, to the south of Botany Bay, about an hour from central Sydney.

    From the train, we took a ferry to Bundeena, which sits inside an extensive bay open to the Pacific. After a short walk through suburban streets, with large number of architecturally interesting houses overlooking the sea, we continued across a sandy beach and along a rocky rough trail through the bush above the water to the headland where the bay ends, looking out over the Pacific.

    We retraced our steps, caught the 2.00 pm ferry back to Cronulla, and crossed the peninsula from the ferry wharf to the Pacific side, where there was an attractive rock pool--a swimming pool where the breakers splash over the wall closest to the sea, but swimming is safe in calm water inside the pool. Joan swam for half an hour, while I sat and listened to an elderly Australian who engaged me in conversation, although apart from brief answers to his questions, it was really a monologue on his part.

    We then followed a seaside path above the sea for a couple of miles to the north, passing Cronulla's South Beach--lots of surfers and kayakers--and a taking in a section of Cronulla' North Beach, which stretches for miles in a great curve out towards the Pacific.

    We reversed our steps and ended close to railway station, which abuts a long traffic-less street, with shops, restaurants, beauty parlours, liquor stores, gyms, physiotherapists, nail and eyelash experts, burger and pizza places, hair-dressers etc. etc.

    A meal in what seemed like a modest fish and chip shop provided us each with a super meal of grilled barramundi, chips, and salad, with two Peronis to wash it down. And when we were through, we bought gelatos at another store. 

    A train was in the station when we returned there, and back we went to Sydney.

    I would just add that my pedometer for today shows 11.2 miles.